LOS ANGELES — The baseball roared off Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s bat at close to 103 mph. And in that moment, maybe you had the same thought I had:

What was that sound — from those 52,000 occupants of Dodger Stadium?

Was it a gasp, in 52,000-part harmony? Was it shock? Was it a murmur rippling through Chavez Ravine?

Whatever it was, these people seemed to have a sixth sense about what they’d just seen.

This was megastar versus rock star — Vladdy versus the amazing man on the mound, Shohei Ohtani. And as the baseball floated through the night, it felt so clear. Everything about this World Series had changed.

This was Vladdy’s big October statement, Vladdy’s big World Series swing. And by the time his first World Series homer dropped out of the sky and came to earth beyond the left-center-field fence, the Blue Jays were back.

Guerrero’s homer flipped the Game 4 scoreboard Tuesday from 1-0 Dodgers to 2-1 Blue Jays. It set the stage for an evening that turned into Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 2, and reminded us what makes the Blue Jays so good and so dangerous.

This World Series is now tied, at two wins apiece. And while Guerrero’s stunning long ball didn’t win this game by itself, “that swing was huge,” said his manager, John Schneider.

But this is the World Series Weird and Wild column. So you should know by now that it wasn’t just huge because it turned the scoreboard upside-down. It was huge because it allowed us to do something that’s always fun: stack up Vladdy Jr. against his Hall of Fame father, Vlad Sr.

Ready? Here it comes.

Postseason extra-base hits:

Vlad Sr. — nine, in his career (188 plate appearances)
Vlad Jr. — 10, just in this postseason (74 plate appearances)

Is that as staggering to you as it is to me? Vlad Sr. was one of the most talented hitters of his generation. His teams made the postseason six times. He was a lineup centerpiece for all of them.

But can this really be true? In 45 postseason games over all those Octobers, he somehow rolled up fewer extra-base hits than his son has smoked just this month? That would be 100 percent true, believe it or not.

So I asked some of Vlad Jr.’s Blue Jays teammates Tuesday what their reaction was to learning that wild little factoid.

“That’s pretty good,” said pitcher Kevin Gausman. “It definitely means he has bragging rights for sure.”

I got curious about just how rare this was. So I asked my friends from STATS Perform to look into it. They confirmed what we already suspected.

I asked STATS if the sons of any other Hall of Famers could make this claim. Nope.

I asked if the sons of any other former MVPs could make this claim. No again.

So we dug in on every father-son duo they had in their database. They found 13 other father-son combos who each got at least one extra-base hit in the postseason — counting both Boone brothers (Aaron and Bret) and their father, Bob.

But it wasn’t hard to narrow down the father-son competition. Only seven of those fathers even got as many as 70 postseason plate appearances. And of that group, just three besides Vlad Sr. had a son who got more extra-base hits in a single postseason than his dad got in his entire career:

FATHER	PA	CAREER XBH	SON	SEASON XBH
Ken Griffey Sr.	83	7	Ken Griffey Jr.	8
Cecil Fielder	70	6	Prince Fielder	7
Bob Boone	121	4	Bret Boone	6

So that’s a fun little group, if you add the Vlad and Vladdy Show. But with all due respect to those other three dads — Griffey, Fielder and Boone — there’s only one Hall of Famer with a son making the kind of waves that Vlad Jr. is making this October.

I filled in the Jays’ backup catcher, Tyler Heineman, on this eye-opening nugget. I could see his wheels turning, trying to decide what to make of it.

“That’s surprising only in the fact that Vlad Sr. is a Hall of Famer,” Heineman said. “But seeing Vlad Jr. on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t really surprise me one bit. I mean, he’s so calm in these moments. He’s just so built for these types of moments.”

Vladimir Guerrero reacts after the Blue Jays won Game 4 to even the Series at two games apiece.Patrick Smith / Getty Images

Fifteen games into this Octoberfest, Guerrero Jr. has quite a slash line: .419/.500/.806/1.306. In the history of baseball, nobody who has played this many games in a single postseason can match it.

If we lower the minimum to 12 games played, we add only two other names to this .400/.500/.800 Club:

Carlos Beltrán, 2004 Astros — .435/.536/1.022/1.557
Paul Molitor, 1993 Blue Jays — .447/.527/.851/1.378

(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

It’s excellent company. Molitor is a Hall of Famer. Beltrán appears to be on the verge of being elected. And then there’s Vladdy.

Did you know there has never been a Hall of Famer who had a son who went on to become a Hall of Fame player? Look it up. So are we looking at a guy with a chance to be the first? How could anyone say no — especially after the way Guerrero Jr. has risen to meet all these October moments?

“Look, he’s 26 years old,” said the one surefire future Hall of Famer in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse, Max Scherzer. “So there’s a long way to go.”

But Scherzer is also the only player in this clubhouse who once pitched and played against Vlad Sr. So he knows what the greatness of both father and son looks like.

“Let’s just say his dad swung at a few more pitches (out of the zone) than he does,” Scherzer said, laughing. “But I love that I’m old, and I got to play with his dad and now I’m playing with him. I love getting to see Vladdy day in, day out. I love how much he’s grown even over the course of the season.

“We can all talk about his bat and what he can do at the plate. And you’re seeing him leveling up in front of our eyes. But to me, it’s about what he does on defense, how he runs the bases, his baseball IQ and all the little things that go into being a great player. He’s shown significant strides as the season’s gone on, and I love it. He’s thinking about the game at a much higher level now. And those are the things to me that really kind of define a superstar.”

But then there’s that swing he took Tuesday against that hanging sweeper from Ohtani. That, too, could end up defining him … if his team goes on to win this World Series.

“You know what? I think it’s just part of his DNA,” Heineman said. “I just think he loves competing so much. And his dad never won a World Series, correct? So I think he just really wants to give his dad a World Series ring. He’s so internally motivated to do that, it’s special.”

The $1.2 billion long ball

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the better of his superstar counterpart with his two-run blast.Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images

And now one more historic question about Vlad Jr.’s home run off Ohtani that I can’t believe no one except the Weird and Wild column is asking:

Wasn’t this the most expensive home run in World Series history?

Vladdy’s contract — 14 years, $500 million
Ohtani’s contract — 10 years, $700 million

I’m sure the nitpickers out there will try to argue we’re not factoring in Ohtani’s deferrals. And our reply is: Of course we’re not. If Ohtani and the Dodgers want to do that, I’m sure that makes their accountants happy. But all we’re looking for here at Weird and Wild World Series HQ is notes that make us happy.

So a $1.2 billion rocket over the fence? That’ll do it.

Singing the MVP blues

I’m not finished with that home run after all. And why is that? Because it was given up by a man who is about to win the National League MVP award (Ohtani). So I found myself wondering …

When was the last time the MVP served up a home run in a World Series game?

That’s a trick question in Ohtani’s case, of course, because he isn’t going to win that MVP trophy because of his pitching. That’s just bonus points. And the previous MVPs on this list were all full-time pitchers. But hey, whatever!

In the expansion era (1961-present), I found only five other World Series home runs that were given up by that season’s MVP. I think you’ll enjoy hearing all about them.

Willie Hernandez (Tigers) — to Kurt Bevacqua in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series.

Denny McLain (Tigers) — to Lou Brock in Game 4 of the 1968 World Series.

Bob Gibson (Cardinals) — to Jim Northrup in that same Game 4 in ’68.

Sandy Koufax (Dodgers) — to Mickey Mantle in Game 4 of the 1963 World Series.

Koufax again — to Tom Tresh in Game 1 of that ’63 World Series.

One of these home runs (namely, Tuesday’s) is not quite like the others. But does that matter to any of us here at the Weird and Wild column? Not one iota!

Good intentions

TheBlue Jays were so busy intentionally walking Ohtani in almost every extra inning they had a chance to Monday night that you may have missed what I’m going to call the most historic intentional walk in World Series history.

So what the heck was that? We take you back to the 13th inning of Game 3. The Dodgers had a runner on third with two outs. And here came Ohtani.

Heck, we know what happened to him. The usual four fingers. But here’s the Weird and Wild part. Mookie Betts then strolled to the box — and Schneider, baseball’s No. 1 intentional-walk fan by a thousand miles, flashed those four fingers for Mookie, too.

Wait. What happened here again? The Jays intentionally walked two former MVPs … to get to a third former MVP (Freddie Freeman)? That, I thought, can’t possibly ever have happened.

So I asked STATS to check. And that answer was … correct! This was the first time in postseason history that a team intentionally walked two former MVPs to pitch to a third MVP in the same inning — either consecutively or at any point in the inning. And incredibly, it worked (even if Freeman’s missile to the track would have been out by 50 feet on a normal weather day).

A bases-loaded Cy of Relief

Clayton Kershaw and his teammates celebrate their walk-off win in Game 3.Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images

As long as we’re talking award winners, I’m still highly entertained by the mere thought of Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw being summoned out of the bullpen in the 12th inning of Game 3 … with the bases loaded.

I asked Kershaw if he could remember coming into any game in his life with the bases loaded. And he spit back a quick: “I don’t think so.”

So I checked for him. And I can confirm! He’s never done that in the big leagues — not in any of those early career relief outings, and not in any of his emergency postseason relief adventures through the years. Until this one.

Once that work was done, I had one more fun question: How rare is it for any former Cy Young starting pitcher to get dragged into a postseason game in relief with the bases loaded?

That seemed like a job for the gang at STATS. And the incredible Sam Hovland jumped on the case. He found only four times in postseason history when that’s happened:

Dwight Gooden — didn’t just get confronted with bases-loaded trouble in Game 5 of the 2000 ALCS against Seattle, in the fifth inning. Had to face Rickey Henderson! But got him to popup. So the Doc was in.

Bartolo Colón — who doesn’t love a good Bartolo appearance on these lists. But it didn’t end well. Entered Game 5 of the 2015 World Series for the Mets, in the 12th inning — and gave up the three-run Lorenzo Cain double that essentially finished off the Mets’ season.

David Price — got summoned by the Red Sox for a bases-jammed relief appearance in the third inning of Game 2 of the 2017 ALDS. He did what he was there to do. Got out of that inning and got six more outs. So even though the Red Sox went on to get clobbered by the 2017 Astros, it sure wasn’t Price’s fault.

Kershaw — had to get one huge out to escape 12th-inning trouble Monday … and did, by getting Nathan Lukes to ground out (on a 3-2 pitch, so phew)!

So if you’re breaking this down like I was, you can see that the only two guys on this list to make one of these bases-overstuffed relief appearances in extra innings were Kershaw and Bartolo — both in the 12th inning. That, however, is where the similarities end.

Let’s just say Colón was much more beloved by Mets fans when he was hitting miraculous homers than when he was making late-night World Series relief appearances and giving up three-run doubles.

Once upon a time

Finally, you may have noticed that Game 4 looked just a little different than Game 3 of this World Series. Here would be the biggest difference:

GAME TIMES AT DODGER STADIUM

Game 3 (18 innings) — 6:39
Game 4 (nine innings) — 2:54

Anybody adding (or subtracting) along out there? Geez, I hope not. But either way, the lead story on the Time of Game news feed Tuesday night was that we had a slight drop in game time from one evening to the next …

By an astounding three hours, 45 minutes!

So yes, I had to know, too. Was this the largest drop in game time ever from one World Series game to the next?

And the answer, courtesy of STATS, was, essentially: Yep, time flew in Game 4, all right. Here are the three biggest drops in history:

3:45 — 2025 Games 3-4: from 6:39 (18 innings) to 2:54.

3:23 — 2018 Games 3-4: from 7:20 (18 innings) to 3:57.

2:21 — 2005 Games 3-4: from 5:41 (14 innings) to 3:20.

You might think this sport would be a little more consistent and standardized with stuff like this. But if that’s how you’re thinking, you’re obviously not very familiar with the ever-creative game of …